Got Wine...and Santa?

As you can see, I have been working hard on making up for lost time with regard to blogging!  I feel like I lost about two weeks of life due to the stomach bug making its round at our house, as well as struggling to find a rhythm with blogging and having a new baby around.  But, I think I have found a solution that works...as evidenced by my more numerous posts!

Anyway, one event that I did get to attend this holiday season was my parish's annual St. Theresa Christmas party.  (St. Theresa is our ladies group)  Every year, St. Theresa's holds a dinner and auction to raise money to support various parish activities.

I have never gone in the past.  Honestly, because I thought that it might just be seniors with nobody even close to my age, but I couldn't be more wrong.  And, after I learned through my Catholic women's Bible study that women of all ages/generations attend the Christmas Party, I got really excited about attending and even reached out to a couple of neighborhood girlfriends to see if they were interested in attending.  They were!

And they did.

Left to Right...Annette, me, Erin.  These gals are close friends and neighbors.

We had so much fun enjoying dinner with new parish friends while being served our meal by husband-volunteers and our pastor, Father Pat.  After dinner, our new, WRAPPED gifts were auctioned off to the highest bidder.  It's a bit scary bidding on something you can't see.  But, isn't that what FAITH is all about?  Believing in our Heavenly Father whom we can't see?!

I bid on an interestingly-wrapped package and ended up with a really cute stackable snowman from Home Interiors.  The snowman is created out of nesting containers, each container making part of his body/head.  But the funniest part of the evening was when my good friend, Annette, outbid me on another gift because she had been so busy talking that she didn't know I was already bidding!  Such a stinker. She outbid me at the last minute and then felt so bad about it!  That's what happens when a bunch of Catholic women get together and wine is involved!

Speaking of wine, the gift that I lost out on was this:

I've got Santa and he's got the wine!

But, Annette is such a great friend. She had been over earlier that week and commented on my Santa collection and surprised me by gifting the Santa to me after she paid for it.  What a wonderful friend!

My newest addition to my Santa collection.

And yes, I do have a Santa that met an unfortunate accident...involving a pint-sized decorating helper.  (Ben felt so bad about this...is it ironic to anyone else that he broke the FIREMAN Santa?!)  Must get boot glued on before packing away for next year.